Conservation easements prevent development – permanently
By ELENA GRIMM
egrimm@daily-chronicle.com
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| Jack Pizzo, of Pizzo and Associates, is in the process of restoring his business’ Leland property to prairie and wetland. (Beck Diefenbach - bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com) |
When Jack Pizzo was scoping out 40 acres of farmland in Leland to purchase, he fell into it.
A pheasant jumped out at him, and he tripped and fell face-first into a patch of native iris.
That fall didn’t deter him. Ten years later, Pizzo has placed a conservation easement on the property, which houses his ecological restoration business. Pizzo currently has the only two easements in DeKalb County – the first easement was placed on his home property in Clare in 2004, and the second was recorded on Dec. 31, 2008.
A conservation easement is a legal document that protects land from development – forever.
All future owners must abide by the terms of the easement, and “forever is forever,” said Laura Glaza, a spokeswoman for The Conservation Foundation, the nonprofit land-protection organization that holds Pizzo’s easement.
Pizzo, an ecologist, is a firm believer in practicing what he preaches. On the day his business opened at its new location in Leland in 1999, he closed at noon and started pulling buckthorn, an invasive plant species.
Since then, he’s worked to restore the farmland to prairie and wetland.
Part of the easement is that Pizzo – and all future landowners – agree to continue restoring native species, he said.
“A lot of people look at it like, ‘Why would you give away your development rights to this property?’ – which is what i did,” he said. “And I look at them and go, ‘Why not?’ It’s right in line with what I believe personally and professionally. This will stay so people can enjoy this forever.”
Each easement is unique in that it is written to reflect the specific property, said Dan Lobbes, the director of land preservation for The Conservation Foundation. The process can take a few weeks or a few years.
“The conservation easement is tailored to fit the characteristics of the property and the vision of the landowner,” Lobbes said. “Some landowners want to be so restrictive, and some don’t want to be so restrictive.”
However, it all begins with a big decision.
“Oftentimes, the land is the family’s biggest asset,” Lobbes said. “So they should take their time, consider all of the impacts and make a very thoughtful decision. We never want to rush them.”
Unlike deed restrictions and other property-use limitations, a conservation easement has the landowner partner with an organization, Lobbes said. This could be a public agency, such as a forest preserve district, or a private nonprofit organization, such as The Conservation Foundation. The partnering organization is responsible for monitoring the land and defending the easement.
Pizzo chose to work with The Conservation Foundation because the agency covers the Fox Valley watershed, on which his Leland business sits; when he placed the first easement in Clare, he worked with the Natural Land Institute because that land sits on the Kishwaukee River watershed.
Pizzo advised anyone interested in conservation easements to choose an agency that has a good track record and is actually preserving the land rather than letting it degrade. Having a good lawyer and appraiser will also make for a smoother process.
They should also make sure they’re financially ready; though property tax incentives are in place, most nonprofits require landowners to make a donation toward the agency’s legal defense fund.
For Pizzo, it was an easy decision.
“It isn’t hard to see that you can actually do something that is economically good and ecologically good in the same breath,” Pizzo said. “One stroke of the pen and I did something good for Mother Nature and something good for my pocketbook.”
